Work to make judiciary look good, Kalla says
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Vice President Jusuf Kalla called on lawyers on Friday to help improve the judiciary's reputation by refraining from corruption and bribery in the courts.
Lawyers are often accused of bribing judges to win their court cases.
"The role of lawyers as independent and responsible professionals is very important, and apart from law enforcement agencies," he told a ceremony to mark the opening of a national meeting of the Indonesia Advocates Association (AAI) in Bali.
The event, themed "the Advocates' Role in Clean and Respected Law Enforcement", was attended by Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan and Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin.
Kalla said that as a pillar in developing supremacy of the law, the advocates association was required to uphold its code of ethics and monitor the conduct of its members.
Bagir Manan shared a similar idea, saying that lawyers should play a role in establishing a clean and respectable judiciary system in order to improve its reputation, often tainted by the "judicial mafia" tag.
"The role of lawyers is crucial because there is no judiciary without lawyers, and vice versa, in a modern judiciary system," he said after attending Friday's opening ceremony.
The chief justice said that only recently had Indonesian lawyers come to understand how important was their role in establishing a clean judiciary, as they had been "thinking only about themselves" for years.
"Now we are supposed to enter the stage of taking real action to improve the reputation of the judiciary. Hopefully, the theme will not only serve as cosmetics to attract people," Bagir said.
He admitted that advocates often visited judges to ask them to rule in favor of their clients, adding that his office had prohibited judges from meeting with lawyers dealing with cases they are trying.
"It's immoral and against the code of ethics and regulations," Bagir said.
Although many lawyers are allegedly involved in the "judicial mafia", almost all of them escape justice due to lack of evidence.
One case was recently revealed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which has extensive authority to fight endemic corruption in Indonesia.
Lawyer Tengku Syaifuddin Popon, who worked for suspended Aceh governor Abdullah Puteh, was caught red-handed by KPK investigators allegedly trying to bribe two court clerks of the Jakarta High Court.
The bribe was intended to reduce the 10-year prison term for Puteh, which was handed down by the Anticorruption Court. He had been found guilty of corruption over the purchase of a Russian- made chopper for the Aceh administration.
The bribery case involving Popon and the two court clerks is being tried by the Anticorruption Court.